Peter Ngwenya

This post is dedicated to the life and memory of my friend Peter Ngwenya, who passed away recently. Peter was a remarkable man in many ways. He was above all a South African, who dedicated his life to transformation and development. His passion for supporting the growth and development of young people through theatre was unmatched, and the work he did through the Soweto Youth Drama Society was inspirational. He later changed the name to The Youth Drama Society, as he did not want to limit involvement of young people from other township areas.

Peter was warm, funny, deeply caring, and incredibly loyal to those he loved. He carried a lifelong intrigue for all people, especially from other cultures and across boundaries. From the township, he loved to visit the suburbs. He walked a global stage, but stayed rooted in Soweto. He embraced the new South Africa, while often frustrated and mystified by its bureaucracies, and was always open to learning. Above all he reached out to people and was a human being.

Hamba kahle Bra Peter.

"Strategic Foresight" needed...

Here is a link to an interesting article by Adam Habib published in The Sunday Times that explores (in a deeper and more articulate fashion!) some of the some ideas from my previous posting...

Opposition politics in South Africa

The election has been something of a distraction from day-to-day things, so this will be my last posting on politics for a while. My continuing interest is the process of realignment of opposition politics and a hope that the process will move in such a way that leads us towards a political opposition that can pose a credible alternative to the ANC for significant numbers of our people – not because I believe that the ANC currently has unacceptable policies, but more because a democracy generally depends on people have choices between different political groupings that they can trust to represent their interests and to govern the country.

So, in this context, what do the results of last week’s elections mean for this realignment process?

The ANC remains the largest party, with more or less two thirds of the popular vote -having probably lost some votes to COPE and the DA and won some from the IFP and maybe some other smaller parties (the ANC won over 1m additional votes in KwaZulu Natal this time round – a major achievement).

The DA, having around 16% of the vote, remains the ‘official’ (largest) opposition party. They are still a long way from posing any real threat to the ANC at a national level – probably for at least the next 12 years – unless there is some radical realignment of the opposition parties. The DA won the Western Cape, and is the main opposition party in only 2 other provinces (Mpumalanga and Gauteng).

Interestingly, the DA’s election analysis document (available on their website, and which is a wonderful example of how to put a positive spin on a situation whilst ignoring some hard realities!) describes the DA as the “fastest growing” party in both the Free State and the Eastern Cape, despite the fact that COPE came from nowhere and leapfrogged above the DA in numbers of votes in both provinces!

COPE won around 7.5% of the national vote, so is well behind the DA overall, but oddly is now the 2nd largest party in 5 provinces (Northern Cape, North West, Limpopo, Free State and Eastern Cape) and so could also claim some recognition as a significant national opposition party.

Smaller parties – especially the Independent Democrats (ID), the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), the United Democratic Movement (UDM) and others, did less well and may be thinking about their political futures. Patricia de Lille of the ID has hinted that she may be thinking about what to do and that opposition parties should consider getting together.

If the smaller parties decide to roll up their tents and find a new political home, I would imagine that the ID and UDM and the remnants of the PAC would be more likely to move towards COPE than the DA – potentially, on 2009 voting figures, bringing COPE closer to the DA…

The Freedom Front Plus would probably be more likely to move towards the DA. It is not clear where the IFP votes would go but if COPE managed to win most of them we could have this scenario:

COPE (7.42%) + ID (0.92%) + UDM (0.85%) + ‘PAC’ (0.7%) + IFP (4.55%) = 14.45%

DA (16.66%) + FF+ (0.83%) + UCDP (0.37%) + MF (0.25%) = maybe 18%

In this scenario, the DA and COPE face a continuing battle for the role of official opposition, with the DA having to constantly look over its shoulder. The ANC would continue to win elections, with still no real alternative emerging. However if we put the realigned DA and COPE percentages together we go over 30% (maybe 32% on 2009 percentages).

Assuming that the ANC could struggle to retain 66% of the votes in the next elections, (and of course assuming that it stays together as a single party), we can then see the potential of a reorganised single opposition party going well over 35% in the 2014 election, and being able to position itself as an alternative government by 2019.

Do any of the opposition parties have the foresight to see this scenario, and the courage to take the first steps or make the first moves? My sense is that fortune will favour the brave.

Election over - what next?

What a disappointing election campaign. I have been looking hard for interesting or even exciting things to write about, from an appreciative perspective!

There have been some positive aspects, some mentioned in my previous posting. It was good that COPE managed in the end to publish an election manifesto – find a link to it on their website. And good that the franchise was extended, as a result of a court case, to South Africans temporarily overseas – although more will need to be done to make it possible for South Africans living away from capital cities, perhaps by allowing an extended postal voting arrangement.

I cannot help but feel hugely disappointed by the opposition parties. While none of them excite me particularly, they (COPE and the DA in particular) had a real opportunity to establish themselves as real opposition parties that showed the potential to really contest for government at some point in the future. All was in their favour – widespread concern about a Zuma Presidency, infighting within the ANC leading to the splintering away of COPE, growing concern amongst marginalised communities about the slow pace of service delivery, and an economic crisis starting to impact on jobs in South Africa.

The one point on which the DA and COPE could potentially have made substantial inroads was in their criticism of the ANC’s policy of ‘deployment’, through which the ANC deploys loyal cadres to key positions in state and semi-state institutions (but they failed to capitalise on this point). The policy of deployment essentially means that people are appointed to key institutions as a result of political largesse, rather than on the basis of competency for the position. We have seen, on many occasions, people being fired or resigning from such positions as a result of incompetence or mismanagement, (and sometimes being paid out large sums to go quietly), when they should probably never have been appointed in the first place. This has led to major problems in key institutions such as the SABC and SAA, and also meant that the in fighting within the ANC spilled over into these bodies as well.

The Independent Electoral Commission has somehow stood above such challenges, with the result that the vast majority of South Africans have great confidence in the electoral process. It is a substantial democratic achievement to have reached the point where the main difficulties with these elections have related to the defacing of some posters on lampposts – “Election marred by disfiguring of Jacob Zuma poster by COPE supporter on Jan Smuts Avenue”.

So the ANC seems likely to win by a substantial majority (of course, I may be wrong!) How is this? The fact is that the ANC is still the party trusted by the majority of South Africans as the one party willing and able to work for the rights of poor and marginalised people in South Africa. It may also be the only political party that can contain both the hopes and the frustrations of the majority of the people, as we work as a country to improve the lives and living conditions of all. The ANC was also the party that brought liberation and hope to South Africa.

It is also the case that no other political party is currently able to win the trust and faith of the people, despite all the failings of the ANC. The ANC, together with alliance partners, COSATU and the SACP, is still a broad church, bigger than Jacob Zuma, within which many perspectives are accommodated, and complete dominance of any one grouping or faction over the others would probably lead to a split – and a much more significant one than that represented by the COPE splinter. My sense is that such a split, if and when it comes, will be defined along policy lines, rather than as a breaking away of personalities.

For now, unless the different opposition groupings, and especially COPE and the DA, can come together to define an alternative policy framework for the country as a whole, the ANC is likely to remain the largest and most dominant party for some time to come.

So what does this mean for trust in our body politic? For now, the majority of people are prepared to trust the ANC with the governance of the country. Other parties are trusted to the extent that they seem to respond to the hopes and fears of particular groupings only. The opposition parties need to articulate a forward-looking agenda that the South African people ‘as a whole’ can identify with, and which offers hope, and enables people to trust them. This will also mean finding new and trustworthy leaders who can articulate that agenda. Sadly, we are a long way from that at the moment.

With the ANC firmly in control of political institutions, the role of civil society, the media and other voices in society will be to ensure accountability on the part of government and parliament, and work for sound governance and competence in the management of public and private institutions.

Reasons to be cheerful!

One of the people who commented on my last post criticised my posting for lacking in insight and another assumed that I need some kind of political education. While I do not intend to defend myself on either charge, and being quite conscious that I do not pretend to be any kind of political analyst, I do feel it useful to perhaps explain the context in which I will on occasion share my perspectives on our political situation – apart from the fact that anyone has a right to comment on politics even if not a political commentator or analyst (or Helen Zille supporter!)

My purpose in writing my last posting was really to illustrate some of the ways in which politicians sometimes betray the trust of the electorate – by using trite slogans, trying to be on more than one electoral list at the same time, projecting image above policy, pretending to be what you are not etc.

And the reason the issue of trust in politicians is important, and related to this blog, is that trust in politicians is an aspect of social capital. Inasmuch as politicians set themselves up to be political leaders, trust in politicians goes to the core of how we see ourselves as a nation and what we want to become. In seeking our trust, and asking for our votes, politicians should be modelling and representing the social capital we need to create and invest in. Trust is therefore a vertical as well as a horizontal phenomenon, existing - or not existing – between people in communities and networks as well as between those who govern and aspire to govern, and those who are governed. (To read more about political capital, see Kenneth Newton's article 'Trust, Social Capital, Civil Society, and Democracy').

A healthy democracy is one in which significant numbers of people vote, and do so to make real choices about politics – policies and leadership. And to facilitate this process we need political parties and political leaders that are able to articulate a clear national vision and alternative choices that appeal to the people of our country on the basis of policies that rise above racial, tribal or sectarian divisions of the past.

Some further feedback I received on my previous posting is that I was surprisingly cynical and unappreciative! So I thought I would take up the challenge and point out various aspects that I do appreciate about the way the parties have conducted their election campaigns.

I am impressed with the moderation (in style and content) displayed by Jacob Zuma. He has been measured and calm in his rhetoric, and I believe this has helped to create a more peaceful atmosphere – important in the light of political tensions in KwaZulu Natal and the arrival of COPE on the political scene.

I am impressed by the DA’s commitment to working in coalition – this bodes well for the development of opposition politics in South Africa.

I guess I am impressed by the fact that COPE has just arrived on the political scene and has managed to conduct some kind of national campaign within a few short months.

I believe that the PAC has done well to come through its recent troubles and is presenting itself in a more coherent fashion to try and win votes.

The Independent Democrats have run a quite focused campaign and have also managed to project themselves as being slightly more than just a political machine for Patricia De Lille.

The ‘A’ party has done well to arrive on the political scene as a smart combination of smaller and minority parties that by themselves would not have been able to afford the deposit to run on the national list.

Well let me stop lest I am next accused of damning with faint praise! Considering that our democracy in South Africa is still less than 6,000 days old, and despite many reasons to be cynical or despairing, I believe that there are also quite a few positive signs that we are a steadily maturing political democracy.

The opposition hands it to the ANC

What a disappointing election campaign. With national elections on 22nd April I have seen slightly more evidence that something is happening than there is of the FIFA World Cup coming here next year (but not much).

No leaflet from any political party through my letter box as yet. No phone call, SMS, or e-mail from anyone. Some posters on lampposts, but none from COPE. The DA has pictures of Helen Zille, and some other people (but no idea who). The Freedom Front Plus has posters of happy white people, which at least makes clear who they are targeting. The ANC says that “together we can do more”, which is hardly inspiring.

COPE has marginalised itself by failing to produce anything substantial by way of policy. Some brief lines do now appear on their website. The 2 most recent ANC defectors who joined COPE (Sello Moloto and Dennis Bloem) between them made a farce of the whole process – Dennis Bloem by managing to appear on both the ANC and the COPE lists simultaneously (to appear on a list you have to sign nomination papers) and Sello Moloto by resigning as Limpopo Premier on joining COPE, but not quickly enough to avoid being COPE’s first, possibly last, and undoubtedly shortest-lived Provincial Premier for a few hours last week before the ANC hastily replaced him with an acting Premier (Cassel Mathale). Interestingly the Who's Who profile of Moloto shows that he was also a member of the South African Communist Party - I wonder if he also remembered to resign from the SACP before joining COPE?

The DA has all the colours of the South African flag incorporated into its new logo (er, except, er… black). Party leader Helen Zille effectively gave it up to the ANC when she descended into a name-calling tit-for-tat with ANC Youth Leaguer Julius Malema, only for President Motlanthe to chide Malema for being an unruly child, leaving Zille with lots of egg on her face and looking distinctly un-Presidential. In one well swoop, by calling Malema an uncircumcised youth, she probably alienated some hundreds of thousands of potential DA voters. Recognising the value of these type of silly exchanges, Malema on Saturday reportedly perpetuated the exchanges by referring to Helen Zille as a "toddler".

Helen Zille is now reduced to attacking COPE, saying that a vote for COPE is effectively voting for the ANC. I don’t quite get that, but it shows that the main concern of the DA is that they will lose support to COPE, which at least managed to remember to have some black in its logo.

So the likelihood is that the election will confirm
that the COPE breakaway does not represent a major
split within the ANC – more just another stage in the
continuing realignment of opposition parties.

Social capital in the workplace

Miro's 'Personages in the presence of a metamorphosis'

So, following on from my last post, if we accept that social capital is a real form of capital (even if it is hard to measure), then why do we invest so little in creating it?

Joseph Kessels and Rosemary Harrison distinguish between human capital and social capital – describing human capital as “the knowledge, skills, competencies and attributes embodied in individuals that facilitate the creation of personal, social and economic well-being” and social capital as comprising “networks together with shared norms, values and understandings that facilitate cooperation within or among groups” (Harrison, R. & Kessels, J. 2004. Human resource development in a knowledge economy. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan).

In South Africa we invest significant resources in human capital development – a whole bureaucracy (SETAs, SAQAs, national qualifications frameworks, unit standards and so on) exists to skill and train our people, even beyond the formal schooling and tertiary level education sectors. And yet, by comparison, almost no resources are directly allocated to promoting social capital.

Three years ago the Macro-Social report produced by the Presidency recognised the apparent low levels of social capital in South Africa – reporting that over half of all South Africans claim to have no close friends, with almost another 30% claiming to have only one or two close friends. The Report indicates that membership of voluntary groups (churches, youth groups etc) has fluctuated since 1994, with no clear trends emerging, suggesting that the value of belonging to such groups is not obvious to all. Somehow I found these figures quite disturbing – I had imagined that communities in South Africa contain vibrant networks and that people have strong support networks and friendships, but maybe many relationships are more casual, occasional and temporary than appears on the surface…

Social capital can bring significant advantages to individuals, communities and society at large. So much so that the World Bank supports social capital development projects around the world. The advantages are many and varied – for individuals a strong social capital network can bring support in times of crisis, new business contacts, support in bringing up children etc. Communities benefit from a stronger sense of identity and cohesion, and society at large benefits from the harnessing of new ideas, higher levels of innovation and productivity and a stronger sense of shared values.

And there is an increasing interest on the relationship between social capital and learning in the workplace. My colleagues Tjip de Jong and Joseph Kessels have argued that whereas the returns on investing in human capital development (through more traditional training interventions) can be measured in terms of improved performance within the confines of existing job descriptions and linear performance management systems, investing in social capital in the workplace can contribute to higher levels of productivity, innovation and creativity (see their paper.

Investing in social capital then is different from training and ‘capacity building’, and is more concerned with building lifelong learning and supporting a learning perspective to how we work. This could involve, for example, building communities of practice, action learning sets and ‘brown bag’ events, as mechanisms for connecting professionals both within their own working environment and connecting them with their broader professional community.